Table saws of the generic type have a machine table, which is penetrated by a motor-driven saw blade. Workpieces are then placed on the machine table and pushed towards the saw blade, where the saw blade then comes into contact with the workpiece and saws it apart when the forward feed is continued.
Working on such table saws, for example table circular saws, or also on table band saws, is associated with considerable dangers. In particular, the hand of the machine operator guiding the workpiece to be sawn is thereby exposed to the risk of being accidentally passed over the saw blade and thereby being seriously injured.
For the protection of the machine operator, and in particular of his hand guiding the workpiece, various devices are already known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,909 shows a hand protection device whose hand grip permits the workpiece to be fed to the saw blade without the hand used for this purpose being able to come into contact with the saw blade. In this case, a deadman switch is provided on the hand grip, which—when released—cuts off the motor of the saw.
A similar device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,989,718 B1, in which a switch for switching on and off the power supply of the circular saw is provided on the hand grip of the hand protection device, and in addition an indicator light which indicates the state of the switch.
Furthermore, in the German utility model DE 20 2005 010 656 U1, a parallel stop for a table circular saw can be found which has a feed blade which is moved by a hand grip in the direction of cutting in order to advance the workpiece past the saw. Contact switches are provided at the ends of the feed path of the feed blade.
According to the standard EN62841-3-1, each table circular saw must be equipped with a so-called push stick. If the width of the workpiece to be sawn is less than 10 cm, the push stick should already be used to prevent accidental contact of the saw blade by the hand. Such a push stick can be seen in German utility model DE 20 2010 004 458 U1, wherein a protective hood is additionally provided there over the saw blade and a sensor system is provided on the table circular saw with which a body part of a user is detected.
According to standards EN61029-2-5 and EN1807, table band saws must also be equipped with a push stick.
Such a push stick of the generic type has at its one end a gripping possibility for the machine operator and, at its other end, a corner groove or a notch or workpiece engagement notch in order to engage the workpiece. For this purpose, the workpiece engagement notch has two surfaces arranged at a preferably right angle to one another, i.e., a sliding surface facing the feed direction of the workpiece, and a holding-down surface pressing on the workpiece from above.